Protocol 5 Reality
by GeezerWench
Summary: After completion of the Helios 685 mission, Grant's team came to realize it might have been their last mission, and they would have to live their lives. Indefinitely. S1x7. Grant MacLaren, Carly Shannon, Marcy Warton, Philip Pearson, Trevor Holden. One shot.


AN: Of course, I don't own it. _Travelers_ can be seen on Netflix.

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-TRVLR-

Grant MacLaren carefully set the mug of cheap champagne on the workbench in front of him. They'd stopped the Helios 685 meteor from hitting the earth. He wanted to "take the win," as Philip had urged him, but there was something else they had to consider. "Well, we may have done what we came here to do. Created a future where we're no longer needed. All we have to do is live out our lives. _These_ lives, I mean."

"Protocol 5." Trevor was nodding. "Indefinitely."

"Protocol 5?" Carly turned on the team leader and the glint of anger in her dark eyes made him take a step back even though the workbench was between them.

Her piercing gaze landed on each member of the team in turn. "Is Marcy going to maintain her life as a mentally challenged ward of the state or is she going to keep staying at David's, who happens to be her social worker?"

Before Marcy had time to form any sort of response, Carly turned and pointed at Trevor who was standing opposite her, the bench covered with bits and parts of electronics, jumbled, multi-colored wires, and various tools. "He'll go back to his parents' house and live. He's the oldest human ever, but he's just going to go hang out in high school, where he's the smartest person in the entire building. He could teach every science class there."

"Well," the very youthful looking Trevor began haltingly. "I wouldn't say I was the _smartest_ person there. They're just young." He looked down and shook his head. "They're all so very young."

"That's not the point, Trevor," Carly practically snarled at him.

Grant took a cautious step forward and tentatively reached for his Tactitian's arm. "Carly …"

She jerked out of his reach and held her hand up in front of him in a warning gesture.

"Carly, we completed the Helios mission and don't have another." He spoke softly, yet everyone heard him clearly in the old garage they used as their base of operations. "Without orders from the Director, we're to maintain our hosts' lives."

"Philip?" She waved her hand at him. "What does he maintain? The heroin abuse or the meetings? Or both? Go back to the college he dropped out of? The lottery wins and gambling on horse racing weren't part of the original Philip's life."

"That's not fair," Marcy stated, leaning toward Philip and resting a supportive hand on his arm. "The Director had no way of knowing Philip's host was a heroin addict, or that my host wasn't a librarian and had such limited mental capabilities. The Director isn't infallible." Marcy glanced toward the ceiling as she folded her arms over her chest. "Obviously."

"Obviously," Carly agreed with disdain. "And Mac goes back to his _wife, _his_ home,_ and his _job_ at the FBI. The only one of us who has an actual job with a paycheck to live on."

Still feeling self-conscious, Philip was staring down at the clutter in front of him. "If you all need any money, you know I can get it for you."

"Protocol 5, Philip!" Carly said, her voice rising with her anger. "We're not supposed to interact with each other unless we're given a mission." She squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a deep breath. Turning back to their team leader, she slowly opened her eyes. "And I'm supposed to go back to my host's child and raise him. Return to the house where my host's child's drunken father abused, beat, and murdered Carly Shannon." After another long breath, she continued. "There was no record of his ongoing abuse because he's a cop, and Carly knew they would cover for him, so she never reported him. The emergency room visits for injuries? Poor Carly must have been _so_ clumsy and accident prone. I'm supposed to maintain a life of a domestic abuse victim while trying to raise and protect a child, whose father refuses to contribute toward his care?"

Grant's shoulders fell. His entire countenance was filled with concern and worry. "Carly, you don't have to put up with him abusing you. Maybe with my contacts at the FBI—"

"No, Mac. You're all about following the protocols, right?" She stood abruptly and yanked on her jacket, pulling her long curls out of the collar. "I'm going to do what victims of domestic violence do."

"You can't kill him." Grant wasn't above pleading with her. "You would be arrested and—"

"No, I won't kill him, though he deserves it. Protocol 3, of course. _Don't take a life_," she quoted in a sing-song voice, her toothy grin sending a chill down Grant's spine. She gave him another hard look before stalking toward the door. "There are other options. I'll take Jeffrey Junior and go to a battered women's shelter. That's what women should do so their abusers can't harm them or their children any longer." She pulled open the door and looked back at them all. "And I'm going to disappear."

-TRVLR-

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Notes: Quotes from Grant MacLaren and Trevor Holden from season 1, episode 7.


End file.
